Today we’d like to introduce you to Qianjiao Ma.
Qianjiao, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
My name is Qianjiao Ma, and I am a Los Angeles-based designer in the entertainment industry. I graduated from the renowned Art Center College of Design, over in Pasadena, CA. After graduation, I was fortunate to have the opportunity to work on world-class, themed entertainment design projects. These include the Warner Bros. World Theme Park in Abu Dhabi, the NFL Experience in Times Square, Universal Studios Japan, and MNC Lido Lake Theme Park. I’ve also experience in concert design for Barbra Streisand’s North American tour in 2016. Currently, I’m working on Matt Groening’s Netflix original, “Disenchantment,” as a background designer and painter, in my venture into the Los Angeles animation industry. On the side, I enjoy doing illustrations for editorial as a freelance artist. My most recent gig was with Compound Butter Magazine, which will be made public in the Junk Food issue. Plein Air painting is another genre of art, which I enjoy; my plein air work has been shown in galleries in Los Angeles, a feeling that excites me, because I enjoy sharing my experience with others as an essential facet of being an artist. As such, I have conducted a tutorial for Graphite Magazine and Beginner’s Guide to Sketching: Robots, Vehicles & Sci-fi Concepts, which will be made public in January of 2019. This range of experiences in the entertainment industry has left with invaluable experiences and friends, and it keeps me pushing forward for more!
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The entertainment industry is an incredibly competitive one, and it’s filled with talented people, some of whom I am fortunate to look up to as my friends and colleagues. Still, sometimes it’s hard to avoid the competitive aspect, and I begin to feel lost and doubt myself, but that feeling soon after is replaced by a motivation to keep learning and trying different things. I’m grateful for where I’m at today, elevated by the support of my family and friends, which keeps me going strong.
Qianjiao Ma – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
One of my biggest assets as an entertainment designer is the range of projects that I’ve worked on, including animation background, brand, concert, museum and theme park design, as well as editorial illustration. All these experiences have informed my palette as a designer; I feel that I have the critical thinking asked of an industrial designer, and the intuition of an illustrator, which sets me apart as one who is flexible amongst multiple facets of the industry.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moment of my career is when my design got build. I had the honor to work for the world’s largest theme park “Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi”. This park opened to the public recently. This project is huge. It took so long to made my design to be build and when it finally got build it is definitely the proudest moment of my career so far.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.q-draws.com
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/q_sketches/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/qianjiao.ma
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/QSketches
Image Credit:
Qianjiao Ma
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